Prisons: A Social Crime and Failure. Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays (Third revised edition, New York: Mother Earth Publishing Association, 1917) IN 1849 Feodor Dostoyevsky wrote on the wall of his prison cell the following story of The Priest and the Devil: "'Hello, you little fat father!
' the devil said to the priest. 'What made you lie so to those poor, misled people? What tortures of hell did you depict? This was written fifty years ago in dark Russia, on the wall of one of the most horrible prisons. With all our boasted reforms, our great social changes, and our far-reaching discoveries, human beings continue to be sent to the worst of hells, wherein they are outraged, degraded, and tortured, that society may be "protected" from the phantoms of its own making. Prison, a social protection? After eighteen months of horror in an English prison, Oscar Wilde gave to the world his great masterpiece, The Ballad of Reading Goal: Yet crimes are on the increase. Why, then, are prisons a social crime and a failure? Mr. Féminisme, criminalité et prisons. Je suis en général très réservée face aux féministes qui appellent au durcissement des peines de prison, en particulier pour le viol, et pour dire vrai, je suis réticente tout court au durcissement des peines de prison, voire à la prison tout court.
Essayons de poser les choses. Les institutions policières et judiciaires sont à l'image de notre société et traversées, entre autres, de sexisme et de racisme. On sait par exemple que beaucoup de viols sont correctionnalisés (de crime, ils deviennent des délits qu'on ne juge plus aux Assises) pour plusieurs raisons dont l'une est que face à un juré populaire un violeur s'en sort mieux qu'une agresseur sexuel face à un tribunal correctionnel. Arriver à correctionnaliser un viol car on sait que sinon le violeur s'en sortira mieux , il fallait oser, on l'a fait. Les crimes contre les femmes sont en général appelés de mille euphémismes "crime passionnel", "vie de couple tumultueuse" (pour un mari qui a torturé sa femme 30 ans).
Are Prisons Obsolete? Slavery and the Prison Industrial Complex. TRC_Biehl hearing_part 1. CHAIRPERSON: ...the death of Amy Biehl.
Before commencing proceedings I should place on record that the original date by which applications for amnesty had to be lodged was the 14th of December 1996. It was announced that this date was to be extended to the 10th of May 1997. This decision has yet to be promulgated in the Gazette and it is anticipated that this is due to take place shortly. Of the four applications before us three were lodged after the original closing date, one was lodged timeously. The date for today's hearing was finalised to meet the convenience of Mr and Mrs Biehl, the parents of the deceased Amy Biehl, they are here today, they have come from America to attend these proceedings. ADV ARENDSE: Thank you Mr Chairman, just for the record, Norman Arendse, I'm appearing together with my colleague Advocate Gozo. CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. The order in which the applicants are sitting should be placed on record. CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. MR BRINK: Yes Mr Chair. Thank you.
TRC_Biehl Hearing_part 2. CHAIRPERSON: Mr Brink are we ready to commence proceedings?
MR BRINK: Yes we are Mr Chairman. CHAIRPERSON: Mr Arendse. ADV ARENDSE: Thank you Mr Chairman. Good morning members of the Committee. Mr Chairman we would like to proceed to deal with the application of Vusumzi Samuel Ntamo and we propose adopting the same procedure. If I could hand up the original and mark it Exhibit D, the original of his affidavit and then ask my colleague, Ms Gozo, to deal with this part of the application. CHAIRPERSON: Well the affidavit of Mr Ntamo will go in as Exhibit D. Miss Gozo you may commence. ADV GOZO: Thank you Mr Chair, thank you members of the Committee. Vusumzi these are members of the Amnesty Committee. I am now going to read out your statement, please listen.